Being of a certain age it is rare that I am impressed by anything anymore. Computers and electronic equipment can be impressive but usually only if they are of a certain brand. But today I must say that I was impressed.

I was e-mailed a link to a page that played a sound file. You have to listen to it using headphones but what you can hear is just someone shaking a box of matches. The sound travels around your head but then up and down behind you. You really have to hear it to believe it. I was amazed, unlike a certain someone that I sent the link to.

This type of effect has been tried before. When Pro-Logic was the most popular surround-sound processor you could buy headphones that had 2 speakers for each ear. Of course they weren’t the in-ear ones but the ones that covered the entire ear. A smaller speaker was placed towards the back of the head to try to simulate the effect. I don’t know if they worked well or not. They obviously never caught on.

Sir Les PattersonThe online archive of Sir Leslie Colin Patterson. Wit, sage, raconteur, late Cultural Attaché to the Court of St James and Chairperson of the Australian Chapter of the International Cheese Board.